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  At that moment none of it mattered. Only Mason and what he was doing to me.

  Finally I shattered in a burst of glorious release. Mason, thankfully, had the presence of mind to muffle whatever sound I made then held me as I sank against him, boneless. I vaguely remember him readjusting my skirt then stroking my back tenderly as I leaned against him and trying to catch my breath.

  I buried my face against his chest and murmured, “Oh my God.”

  He chuckled and continued to rub my back. “Oh-my-God, good? Or oh-my-God, bad?”

  Unable to look him in the eye just yet, I kept my face buried in his chest. “Just…” I waved one hand in the air dismissively. “Just oh my God in general.”

  He chuckled again then pulled away enough so he could push my chin up with one hand. When I forced my eyes open he was grinning down at me.

  “Are you okay?”

  “You mean other than being mortally embarrassed that I just had an orgasm in a hallway not far from a conference that has over a thousand people in attendance, with a guy I’m not even dating?”

  Laughter rumbled in Mason’s chest. “Yeah, other than that.”

  “Other than that, I’m great.” I looked down at Mason’s crotch. There was a considerable bulge there. I don’t normally spend a lot of time looking at men’s crotches but I was suddenly fascinated by his. I was even more fascinated by how I might be able to relieve him of what was most likely considerable pressure buildup. “How are you?”

  “I’ll make do. We need to get out of here before they stop for the first break.”

  “But you didn’t—”

  Mason kissed me, silencing my protest. “Later.”

  He looked down the hallway to see if anyone was coming while I rearranged my skirt and blouse. He gestured that it was safe to step out of the nook.

  On still shaky legs, I stepped in stride with him and headed toward the arena where the conference was still going strong. I was surprised when he took my hand and led us to two empty seats toward the top of the section in front of us.

  When we sat I took a moment to savor the experience of being in Mason’s arms. I had no idea where this left our relationship. If there was some kind of relationship between us.

  His promised “later” left me both giddy and nervous.

  Later tonight? Later this week? Just when was later? What did he have in mind for later? And was I okay with later? Did I even want a later?

  Okay, that was a stupid question. If later was half as exciting as the incident in the hallway, of course I wanted a later. Who was I kidding?

  The problem was I didn’t do one-night stands. If that was all Mason had in mind I wasn’t sure I could have sex with him then continue to work with him on a regular basis.

  Not that we worked in the same department or anything. Thankfully we didn’t even share the same reporting lines. We just ended up on a lot of the same project teams.

  I leaned over to whisper, “I really do appreciate your help with my, uh, broken laces, Mason.” I felt myself flush.

  “Tell you what. You can buy me lunch as a thank-you,” he whispered back, his grin visible even in the darkened arena.

  “Lunch comes with the conference, you know,” I said, returning his grin.

  “Well then you’ll get off cheap, won’t you?” He leaned over and kissed me quickly on the mouth.

  “I will make it up to you, you know,” I said softly.

  “You have no idea how happy I was to help. Besides, you may need me to fix your laces again before the end of the day, so you better save your IOUs,” he said with a lecherous wag of his eyebrows.

  I snorted then shook my head.

  We sat quietly, hand in hand, and listened to the speaker. Mason traced circles around my palm and made it hard for me to concentrate on what the speaker was actually saying.

  After a minute or two Mason leaned over again and asked, “Can I ask one favor of you?”

  “Sure.”

  “Will you wear something I can help with tomorrow too?”

  I couldn’t contain the laugh that bubbled up. “I’m sure I have something in my closet that would be suitable.”

  About Dena Garson

  Dena Garson loves to read romance—the hotter the better. When one of her BFFs said “one of us should be writing this stuff”, she took up the challenge. If she isn’t writing, she’s designing jewelry but somehow she still manages to make it into the office on a regular basis.

  Dena welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email addresses on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.

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  Also by Dena Garson

  Down to Business

  Risky Business

  Working It All Out

  Print books by Dena Garson

  Wedding Bliss anthology

  Ellora’s Cave Publishing

  www.ellorascave.com

  Cherie’s Silk

  ISBN 9781419946349

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Cherie’s Silk Copyright © 2013 Dena Garson

  Edited by Beverly Horne

  Cover design by Syneca

  Cover photography by Surgey Sukhorukov/Shutterstock.com

  Electronic book publication April 2013

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

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  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

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  Table of Contents

  Blurb

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  About Dena Garson